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Borchennymendi
General information Borchennymendi is the native language spoken by approximately 3,200,000 inhabitants of the Kingdom of Borchennymi, situated in the Atlantic Ocean, to the south of the Azores and to the west of the Canary Islands. The island country has been a constitutional monarchy since 1253. Its name means: 'mainland in the ocean', although it is never spoken of as 'Sealand'. Borchennymendi is a language isolate, featuring complex verbal constructions. Its orthography retained an archaic character, while its modern pronunciation is the result of a clearly phased development under the influence of the Portuguese tongue in the 15th and 16th centuries and the English language in the late 17th and early 18th, although Borchennymi was never colonized. A British attempt to do so in 1768 failed after 44 years, when the foreign oppressors were expelled after a short and rather peaceful insurrection in 1812. The Borchennymendi vocabulary shows some Latin influences as an effect of missionary activities from Gaul as early as the 5th century and from the British Isles in the 9th. A few words are derived from the Portuguese. Phonology Consonants Vowels Alphabet The alphabeth consists of only seventeen letters: a b c d e g i (h only in digraphs) l m n o p r s t Digraphs:æœ bh ch dh gh lh mh nh ph rh sh th In books printed in Borchennymi h looks like ß, ſ is used for s except at the end of a syllable, q represents the digraph ch, and h at the end of a word looks like an undotted j. Uncial scripts and fonts are widely used. Capitals are not in use. There is only one punctuation mark (.) or (:). Phonotactics Although the syllable structure of Borchennymendi gives the impression of complexity, it is in fact very transparent. It allows the following possibilities: V stands for vowel; C for consonant; - for none. The seeming opacity is mainly caused by the written digraphs consisting of a vowel and h, which in fact is nothing more than a diacritic. They are regarded as one vowel in the pronunciation. In the onset of a syllable Borchennymendi allows: *no consonants, which implies the absence of an onset; *one consonant: b, c, d, g, l, m, n, p, r, s, t and bh, ch, dh, gh, lh, mh, nh, ph, rh, sh, th; *two consonants: bl, br, cl, cr, dr, gl, gr, pr, st, tl, tr; bhl, blh, brh, chl, chr, clh, crh, dhr, drh, ghl, ghr, glh, grh, phr, prh, shl, sht, slh, sth, thl, thr, tlh, trh and bhlh, bhrh, chlh, chrh, dhrh, ghlh, ghrh, phrh, shbh, shlh, shth, thlh, thrh. *three consonants: str and shtr. A vowel cannot be part of the syllable onset in the written language. The glottal stop is not a part of the consonant inventory and the spoken Borchennymendi shows a strong tendency to avoid it altogether. Words with an opening syllable as represented in the leftmost column of the table above are often preceded by a palatal approximant (j), a voiceless (h) or a voiced (ɦ) glottal fricative as indicated in the diagram. This does not apply to syllables of this type within a word. The nucleus may encompass: *one vowel: a, e, i, o, u, ae oe; *two vowels: ai, ao, au, ea, ei, eo, eu, ia, ie, oa, oi, ua, ue, ui; *three vowels: aou, eai, eoi, iai, iei, oai, uai. In a three-vowel cluster only the one in the middle position is a genuine vowel. Both the first and the last are semivowels; the labiodental approximant (ʋ) in oai, uai and the palatal approximand (j) in eai, eoi, iai en iei.The only exception is aou, in which -ao- is a diphthong: aːw or the long open-back rounded: ɒː and u the semivowel ʋ. No consonants are permissible in the nucleus. In the coda three possibilities are allowed: *no consonants, which implies the absence of a coda; *one consonant: c d g l m n r s t and bh, ch, dh, gh, lh, mh, nh, ph, rh, sh; ( The consonantal digraphs ch, dh and gh are often (but not always) inaudible.) *two consonants: ::: ct, lb, ld, lt, mb, nd, nt, rd, rm, rn, rt, st, ::: bhr, cht, cth, dhl, dhr, drh, ghl, ghm, ghr, ghs, ght, lbh, lch, ldh, lgh, lht, lmh, lth, mbh, mtg, mth, nbh, nch, ndh, ngh, nhd, nsh, nth, pht, rbh, rch, rdh, rgh, rhs, rht, rmh, rsh, rth, sht, sth, tch, trh, ::: chrh, chth, dhrh, ghsh, ghth, lhth, mhbh, mhth, nhdh, nhgh, phth, rhmh, rhsh, rhth, shth, thch, thgh, thrh. *three consonants:ntg, rtg, ghtg, Over syllable boundaries the theoretical maximum length of a consonant cluster can be six positions (orthographically eight), but such a length is an extremely rare phenomenon. There are no radices that show it, so that it could appear only as a result of adding a suffix to a radix. The rule that no single vowel, vowel group, consonant or consonant group may be doubled often reduces the length of syllable clusters. If the application of this rule would obscure the meaning of a verbal of a nominal construction, a synonym for the radix is chosen from the extensive vocabulary. This is one of the main causes for the existence of irregular conjugations and declensions. In the pronunciation the last consonant of a group of two generally becomes inaudible if it is written as bh, ch, dh, gh, lh and th at the end of a syllable followed by a syllable with a consonant or of consonant cluster in its onset.For instance: albh is pronounced as halʋ, but thalbhoir is: θaˈ.ʋoɹ. Phonology The Portuguese and English influences caused several and considerable changes in the pronunciation of medieval Borchennymendi. Before the 15th century it already lost all palatal, velar and uvular plosives and fricatives (except the uvular fricative often represented by rh in written texts). The velar plosives k and g were gradually replaced with lateral fricatives. The Portuguese merchants, who settled predominantly in the southern coastal regions, introduced the further nazalisation of vowels followed by the digraphs mh and nh. Influences from the English pronunciation may be seen in the elision of end-consonants like gh and dh and in the treatment of the dental fricatives th and dh, wich used to be aspired plosives. Important characteristics of modern Borchennymendi are the modification of consonants by following vowels and the modification of vowels by subsequent consonants. The correct pronunciation, however, is fairly irregular and can be represented by the following tables, which are only indicative. Exceptions are as numerous as the rules. The tables indicates the pronunciation of every possible VC combination within one syllable. The column on the rightmost side represents the modification of the original sound of c (k), when it precedes one of the combinations in the rows left of it. In the right column of each pair the regular pronunciation is indicated according to IPA. Table 1 Vowels not modified by subsequent consonants. Table 2 Modification of vowels by subsequent consonants and digraphs within syllables. Table 3 Vowels modifying precedent consonants. Table 4 Modification of consonants. Grammar First Reader In the twentieth century, something like McGuffey's First Reader has been published: The Borchennymendi texts appeared in the traditional alphabeth. ß is the sign for h; the sharp s takes the place of the normal s within or at the outset of a syllable and h is written with a decorative curl at is tail at the end of a word. The words generally are of considerable length, because Borchennymendi is an agglutinative language, although it has some flexions. Read aloud, this text sounds like: Parts of speech Words are divided into four parts of speech: substantives, verbs, adverbs and interjections. *A substantive is a part of speech inflected for number and case, signifying a concrete or abstract entity. *A verb is a part of speech without case inflection, but inflected for at least tense, person and number, signifying an activity or process performed or undergone. An adjective is any qualifier of a noun, without case, tense, person or number inflection. It is disputable whether verbs are inflected adjectives of adjectives are verbs without inflections. A participle is a part of speech, derived from a verb (or an adjective), sharing the features of the verb, the adverb and/or the noun. There are no equivalents for the common English verbs ‘to be’ and ‘to have’. *An adverb is a part of speech without inflection, in modification of or in addition to a verb, adjective, clause, sentence, or other adverb *An interjection is a part of speech expressing emotion alone. Borchennymendi is unfamiliar with expressions for ‘yes’ and ‘no’. The answer to a question and the confirmation or denial of a statement are formulated by resuming the principal verb in the preceding question or statement. In Indo-European languages a pronoun is a part of speech substitutable for a noun and marked for a person. Borchennymendi pronouns are always pronominal suffixes and never stand alone. The Borchennymendi language does not allow any prepositions. Conjunctions A conjunction binds together the discourse and filling gaps in its interpretation. It is always a prefix or an affix to some part of speech. 'Operators' The primary conjunctions between two or more verbal constructions are not separate words, like the English ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘but’ etc. They are expressed by conjunctive suffixes, which may be added to verbs and, to a certain extent, also to substantives. William Bidewell in his 18th century grammar book did not call them ‘conjunctions’ but ‘operators’, as to avoid any confusion with the specific operator he called ‘conjunction’. The five operators in the primary class are: Conjunction according to the Bidewell terminology is performed by the suffix -agh. It corresponds to the English ‘and’: pamhnhe rhaetgidh: chapheaidhnhe saeighuithidhagh: I eat some bread and I drink some coffee. (The suffix ''-nhe is that of the partitive case. The absolutive case would imply that the bread would not change its appearance be being consumed and the resultative case cannot be used because it would mean that I have eaten all of the bread.)'' The disjunctive operator is -eir: pamhnhe rhaetgidh: chapheaidhnhe saeighuithidheir: I eat some bread or I drink some coffee. The two possibilities mentioned do not necessarily exclude each other. The sentence may mean that no real choice between bread and coffee is made: having both of them at one and the same occasion is still possible. When this exclusion has to be expressed the suffix -eirtg must be added: pamhnhe rhaetgidh: chapheaidhnhe saeighuithidheirtg: Either I eat some bread or I drink some coffee, but never at the same time. In the sentence: pamhnhe rhaetgidh: chapheaidhnhe saeighuithidhbhuir: I eat some bread but I drink some coffee, an opposition of the verbal clauses and the nouns is achieved: bread, being food, is eaten but coffee is drunk as it is a beverage. There are two conditional operators, which correspond to ‘if’ (or ‘when’) and to ‘if and only if’. In: pamhnhe rhaetgidheish: chapheaidhnhe saeighuithidh: When I eat some bread, I drink some coffee, the operator suffix for the sufficient condition is -eish, while the suffix for the necessary condition or conditio sine qua non is: -eith: pamhnhe rhaetgidheith: chapheaidhnhe saeighuithidh: If I eat some bread, then and only then I drink some coffee. In conditional clauses like these, the suffixes must be added to the part in which the fulfillment of the condition is stated, not to that in which the condition itself is mentioned. The precise distinction between the suffixes -eish and -eith is of great importance, since -eith always expresses a necessary condition. A flight attendant saying ‘(When we land at Bojarochne Airport, please) remain seated …” (aithoaghredhmuicechoareighemeish) is making a standard announcement. If ‘remain seated’ would be: aithoaghredhmuicechoareighemeith, the communication would imply: “If we land …”, which probably would have a disquieting effect on the passengers. All these operator suffixes can be added to both verbs and nouns: pamhnhe chapheaidhnheagh: Bread and coffee (for a breakfast). tathnhe chapheaidhnheir: Tea or coffee (are served at breakfast). tathnhe chapheaidhnheirtg: Either tea or coffee; not both of them. pamhnhe chapheaidhnhebhuir: I would like some bread, but also a cup of coffee. pamhnhe chapheaidhnheish: Having some bread means: always a cup of coffee to go with it. pamhnhe chapheaidhnheith: No coffee without bread; no bread without coffee. 'Adjunct' The general modifier da- as a prefix to a verb/adjective adds a property to a noun.In some respects, is is an operator, for its basic meaning is: 'of which is true: ...' The Borchennymendi allows the addition of only one adjective to a radix, e.g.: chaseth - a house (ergative case), chasmaugheth - a big house. For the expression 'a large green house' there are three possibilities. The first is an attributive adjunct introduced by the affix da- to the radix nusaigheachthaun: chasmaugheth danusaigheachthauneth: (ergative case for both the subject of the sentence and for its attributive adjunct) has a restrictive meaning: the big house, that is green, would imply that there are more big houses than the green one, but only the green house is occupied by the the person one is looking for. The second possibility chasmaugheth danusaigheachthechathes: (an adverbial adjunct expressing an extension: the large house, of which is true that it is green at this moment, has been green in the past and is likely to stay green in the future) is a verbal construction, because the radix nusaigheachthaun is regarded as the verb: 'to be green'. The meaning of this clause is: the big house which is green. Aspects may be added to the verb, which is not allowed in the attributive adjunt. The big house which is now being painted green would be: chasmaugeth danusaigheachtroananes: it begins (the inchoative aspect) te be green right now (-an is for the common present), the expected result being nondescript or altogether irrelevant. A restriction in an attributive adjunct is the third possibility: the big house that is green could also be: chasmaugheth: danusaigheachthmaith: with the punctuation mark after each of the words and the adjunct in the adverbial case. A clause like this may mean: the big house, whose only characteristic is its green colour. Verbs Gender There is no grammatical''' gender', neither in nominal, nor in verbal constructions. In the second and third persons of the verbal conjugation, a distinction is made between concrete and abstract categories. This will be explained in the section dealing with nouns. '''Number' Borchennymendi involves a three-way number contrast between singular, dual and plural. In the sentence: The apple is fresh - almhaen paertearotganes:the subject almha- takes the suffix of the nominative -en, because paertearotg-, denoting both the adjective ‘fresh’ and the verb ‘to be fresh’, is in this case considered to be an intransitive verb. Two suffixes have to be attached to the radix: -an- for the common present and -es for the third person singular for concrete items. In: The apples are fresh - almhaemen paertearotganeshem: the suffix -em for the plural number appears twice: in the penultimate position of almhaemen and as the final suffix of the verbal construction, as the grammatical number is an agreement category. The distinction between abstract and concrete nouns is a category of the same type. The two apples are fresh - almhasoidhnen paertearotganeshough: In the dual, nouns normally are classified by -soidhn, whereas the verb''takes the suffix -ough. The plural classifier is -em for the noun as well as for the verb. Some nouns form their dual through apophony or phonetic modification: two - steidhm four (two times two) - staedhm. This type of nouns may appear in a second dual form: staedhmsoidhn (2 x 2 x 2) - eight. The dual of almha is formed in the normal way, but sechoedhr, a lady’s shoe, shows apophony in the dual: seachadhr. sechoedhren uibhshetloeianes: - The shoe is black; seachadhren uibhshetloeianeshough: - The pair of shoes is black. ‘Two pairs of shoes’, seachadhsoidhn, make up four shoes, so that the double dual for the noun requires a plural form in the verb: seachadhsoidhn uibhshetloeianeshem: and not: seachadhsoidhn uibhshetloeianeshough: A collective noun is a word that designates a group of objects or beings regarded as a whole, such as "flock", "team", or "corporation". In Borchennymendi, just as in English, they may be interpreted as plural or incidentally when their meaning is that of a couple consisting of two items, persons or concepts (e.g. auth - ‘a pair’, aidhreguige - ‘a married couple’, aothmeraidh ‘duality, ambiguity’) as dual, which affects the conjugation of the verb according to the above mentioned rules. In Borchennymendi, phrases such as ‘The committee are meeting’ are even more common than in British English. The so-called agreement in sensu (i.e. with the meaning of a noun, rather than with its form) is highly favoured. This type of construction varies with the level of formality. 'Person' For verbal constructions, six '''persons' are distinguished: Gender being no category in Borchennymendi, there are no distinct suffixes for 'he', 'she' and 'it' for animate creatures.In the second and third persons concrete and abstract agents of the verb require different sufiixes. Concrete are really existing persons, animate and inanimate objects. Abstract are all the others. The categories, however, are interchangeble to a certain extent. omenh as a concrete noun means 'a human being', so it takes the third person concrete in a verbal construction of which it is the subject. As an abstract noun it means 'mankind', so its suffix will be that of the third person abstract. Originally concrete animals or items that have existed but have ceased to do so are regarded as belonging to the abstract category. This semantic shift affects the choice between the two possibilities in the second and third person. The apple is fresh - almhaen paertearotganes: implies that the fresh apple is still present. About a stolen or consumed apple that has been fresh one should say: almhaen paertearotgechaithes'th:' while almhaen paertearotgechaithes: would imply that the apple is still there and once had been fresh, but now has lost its original quality. Prudence is called for when adding the suffixes -adh (2sg. abstr.), -esth (3sg. abstr.), -adhough, -esthough (dual.), -adhem or -esthem (plur.) to a verbal radix if a person is the subject. Very often it implies pejorative appellations. It is not customary to speak about deceased persons as if they were abstract notions, not even when their demise happened centuries ago. Such usage would express a considerable doubt about their historicity. 'Saint Nicolas' as a 4th century bishop, although he might be somewhat legendary, is concrete, but 'Santa Claus' safely may be regarded as an abstract noun by those who do not believe in his real existence. (Mind the children!) In the context of litterary fiction the names and designations of non-historical personalities are treated as concrete nouns. Fairies, gnomes etc.are abstract; angels are so for non-believers, but religious people regard them as concrete beings. When a living person is the subject, special precautions must be taken in the third person singular of the spoken language, as in practically all instances the difference between abstraction and concreteness is indicated merely by the stressed syllable: 'he/she is afraid' - uidhranes - ˈʌɹɐnɛʃ; 'it (abstr.) is afraid' - uidhranesth - ʌɹɐˈnɛʃ. The use of the abstract form for living people shows undisguised contempt. A concrete woman is a lady, an abstract one is a tramp. The fourth person refers to a nondescript member of a class. The fifth includes all members of that class, while the sixth indicates that the class is void. The suffixes, placed at the end of the entire verbal construction, are: 'Function' The functional suffix is the first to be added to the verbal stem, called radix. There are four of these functions: *indicative, with no mark; *negative marked by -me; *affirmative, with to possible suffixes: **-es when the answer to a question is affirmative: 'Is this a tree? Yes, it is.' Borchennymendi has no equivalents for 'yes' and 'no'. When replying to a question, the verb is repeated with the affirmative suffix.If the answer would be of the type: 'Is this a tree? No, it is a plant.', the suffix: *-iointegh has to be attached to the radix in the first possible position, which is, generally (though there are exceptions) the one immediately after. The interrogative function is reached by adding *-riaidh to the radix. 'Voice' There are five voices: active, unmarked; middle, with the suffix: *-moigh, indicating that the action or experience is to the benefit of the agens; reflexive, *-er; reciprocal, with the suffix *-epher. The reciprocal mood presupposes a dual or plural subject or a subject formally in singular, but semantically plural, like as 'people, class, cattle, police etc.'. Mood The ten moods are: The first conjunctive mood is nothing more than a simple conjunction of two coordinate verbal constructions. As a rule, its suffix does not follow the radix, but finds itself at the end of an entire construction. Tense The next position in a verbal construct is taken by one of the fourteen tenses, if they are applicable: The terms given in the second column of the table do not cover those of e.g. the Latin grammar. Tenses are defined by three criteria: the time when the action commences, the moment on which it takes place, and that on which it is or is likely to be terminated. Examples of their use are: 'Aspect' The verbal aspects are quite numerous. Integration of a complete verbal radix in the penultimate position of a construction is possible. It would result in a more refined aspect than the abbreviated radices give. Aspects given by truncated radices are: Initial aspects: Progressive aspects: Intentional aspects: Retrospective aspects: Jussive aspects: Cogitative aspects: 'Nominalisation' Adjectives can be treated as intransitive verbs without the verb itself being nominalised. The sentences: ‘It is a house. The house is white.’ are verbal constructions: chasanes: chasen chaindidhanes: (litt.: "It houses. The house whites.") Conjugated verbs are transformed to nouns in five different ways: Nouns Singular The singular form of a noun remains unmarked. Dual The dual is normally formed by adding the suffix -soidhn to the radix. Twenty-nine radices have irregular dual forms: Fifteen dual forms indicate semantic shifts: In the singular of these words the first syllable is stressed; in the dual it is the final one that bears the stress, except comhghan - coimhghain: <ˈhɐvɘn> - <ˈɬɪːvɪn>. When the regular dual of these words is used the semantic shift will not occur: achransoidhn - two seasons, ainimadhsoidhn - two hearts, etc. Several words without a dual form or even a strictly dual meaning will always cause the conjugation of the verb of which they are subjects according to the dual number: All these words have a regular dual form when two of these entities or concepts are referred to: teiaelhaesoidhn - two persons, tluinhmhuirghaurdsoidhn - the two World Wars, phoishoirsoidhn - two 2-pound notes etc. The use of the dual with sheidhlinh, shilling (1/10 pound), arose from the revision of the monetary system in 1963, prior to which a shilling had the value of one twentieth part of a pound. The existing coins were not retracted, so that after the 1st of September of that year they doubled their value. Younger people, who have not experienced the revision, generally use the singular again. Plural The regular plural form of nouns is accomplished by adding -em to the radix. Several radices, especially those ending with a vowel, form their plural in different ways: Irregular plural forms are: * thruidhmserui (sg.) is only found in a poetic context and is nowadays obsolete. ** odhamnaith is the material noun, whereas phroughmage means ‘pieces of cheese’. *** sepuildhchre is often taken in the sense of ‘graveyard, cimetery'. **** regei (pl.) only in: regeichuidhnalh, Three Kings, the name of a village near St Thegda EQ, which is regarded as a singular noun. For the conjugation of verbs the following formally singular nouns are considered as plurals: 1. All substantives with a plural suffix or a plural declension. 2. The following substantives in a singular form with a plural meaning: 3. The names of materials. If they are added the plural suffix or if they are declined as a plural their meaning is that of objects made or consisting or that material. Sometimes they undergo a semantic shift: phachoigh is silver, but phachoighem is cutlery, even if it is not manufactured of silver. Silver objects in general are boinhleiaithphachoighem. There are three exceptions to this rule: 4. The names of Borchennymi’s twenty-three cantons. 5. The names of some cities and towns in and outside Borchennymi: The names of equally qualified groups of people (not that of animals or objects) may appear in the singular form, but if the verb of which they are the subject is conjugated in the third person of the abstract plural, they take a collective plural meaning: gheiaer - a carpenter - the carpenters guild, now the organisation of building contractors; gheichluth - a prostitute - prostitution; thaophuibintroith - minister - Cabinet, Council of Ministers, The Crown. Case endings General For the contrast between the subject and the object of a sentence Borchennymendi uses five cases. Two of them, the ergative and the nominative, are for the subject, Two others, the absolutive and the resultative cases, are for the object. The fifth, the accusative, may indicate both the subject and the object, which implies that the meaning of the term ´accusative case´ is totally different from what it is in the Latin grammar. The sixth, a subject case called the pegative, is used only with an indirect subject. The following pairs occur in the first class of core cases: '1. and 2.: ' Ergative and absolutive For the subject of a transitive verb that describes an action or a perception the ergative case is used with the suffix -eth, if the voice of the verb is active, reflexive or reciprocal. In the reflexive and reciprocal voices the object is implicated in the verb itself. In the active voice the object takes the suffix of the absolutive case -am, unless it meets with a change that is the result or the consequence of the action: omheth puirtgam bhidhanes: the man sees the boy. If the verb is in the middle voice, the ergative case has a different form, -ethidh. omhethidh puirtgam bhidhmoighanes: the man sees the boy ‘for himself’, may mean: only the man and no one else sees the boy. In both of these instances, the pair of cases is that of the ergative and the absolutive, because the verb is transitive and the object undergoes no changes at all. '1. and 5.: Ergative and accusative' If the object is changed in some way, suffers from the action or ceases to be existent, the accusative is the appropriate case. It determinates the object by the suffix -ar. The accusative case must not be used if the result of the action is mentioned. omheth puirtgar braidhthanes: the man beats the boy, is a correct sentence but: omheth puirtgar braidhthanes: lhoughranghedhraidhanroanes: the man beats the boy so that he (i.e. the boy) begins to cry, is not. The boy’s crying is the result of the beating. (A correct sentence would be: ''omheth puirtgar braidhthanes lhoughranghedhraidhanroanes, but this means: the man beats the boy so that he himself (i.e. the man) starts weeping. This is indicated by the omission of the punctuation mark in the middle of the sentence.)'' '1. and 3.: Ergative and resultative' The resultative case, -artg, takes the place of the accusative if the object experiences damage etc. and the character of this damage, or whatever it be, is specified in the same sentence. The correct rendering of the action of the cruel man spanking the weeping boy therefore is: omheth puirtgartg braidhthanes: lhoughranghedhraidhanroanes: A really abominable action like: omheth puirtgnemhnainartg braidhthanes: the man beats the boy to death, also requires the resultative case for the object, to the radix of which the verb-adjective -nemhnain- is added. omheth puirtgnemhnainar braidhthanes: would imply that the man is beating an already dead boy, because the action does not affect the state of the object. The resultative case is never to be used for the object without a specification of the result. '5. and 3.: Accusative and resultative' One of the most remarkable features of Borchennymendi is the frequent use of the ‘constructio ad sententiam’. The use of the passive voice of a verb implies that the patient of the action meets with damage or disadvantage. This requires the accusative -ar for the subject: chasar mhaeigrhebhrothanes, the house is destroyed. The passive voice, however, is normally avoided, because Borchennymendi has a fourth person for verbal constructions. Instead of this, one would rather say: chasar mhaeigrhebhanainem, ‘they’ devastate the house. The accusativus pro ergativo appears with an intransitive verb in the active voice in the case that the mentioned performer of the action is in some way harmed or damaged. ioghadhneth chasares mhaeigrhebhanes: John destroys his house, means that John ruins the house of some other person, while in: ioghadhnar chasartgeres mhaeigrhebhanes, John ravages his own property, and a ruined house is the result of what John is doing, so -artg-, the resultative, has to be added to the radix chas- before the pronominal suffix -eres, ‘his own’. If John would have some advantage from the personal destruction of his dwelling, the middle voice has to be used for the verb, which causes the extended suffix -ethidh for the subject and the accusative for the object, because the result of the action is unmentioned: ioghadhnethidh chasareres mhaeigrhebhmoighanes: If the affected object of a transitive verb is no longer existent as such after the action has been performed, the accusative suffix may be combined with that of the resultative case. In: chuistereagheth ghlhanluaidhartgar chuistereaghechaines, the butcher has slaughtered a cow, ghlanluiaidh- takes the suffix -artgar, because the cow as has ceased to be a living creature as a result of the butcher's work. When the furious in the foregoing paragraph destroys his own house to such an extent that nothing is left of it after his activities, the sentence 'John has destroyed his own house' becomes: ioghadhnar chasarartgeres mhaeigrhebhechatheres, with 'John' in the accusative and 'house' in the accusative-resultative case. '4. and 3.: Nominative and resultative' The subject of a nominal predicate takes the suffix of the nominative, -ur. The nominal complement, being the result of the predicate, is marked with that of the resultative -artg. The nominative appears as the suffix for the subjects of the following verbs: For instance: ioghadhnur moirgauthartg genhshoichaies: John is a famous teacher; ioghadhnur moirgauthartg eolaitheansingheothes: John is becoming a teacher (i.e. he is in a college of education) but has not yet taken his finals. * galaoireadh- has a specific connotation: a person is renamed after he or she has been administered the extreme unction in case of mortal peril. '6. and 7.: Pegative and dative' The normal word order is SOV: subject, object, verb, as it in Latin (puer puellam amat, the boy loves the girl) and in many other natural languages. If the indirect object of a sentence has to be stressed, it is placed at the beginning of a clause: ioghadhneth chuadaicham mariadhimh aorhmirchanes: John gives a book to Mary, mariadhimh ioghadhneinth chuadaicham aorhmirchanes: To Mary (and to no one else) John gives a book. For such a subject ‘in the second place’ the Borchennymendi has a special case form, the pegative with the suffix -einth. It cannot appear without a preceding indirect object with a case ending from the dative class. '8. Translative' The direct object can also undergo a change to its advantage as the result of a performed action. For those instances, the Borchennymendi has a special case ending to indicate the positive result as an indirect object. In 'The rich man made John his heir', 'the rich man' has the ergative ending, 'John' the absolutive, and 'his heir' the translative -meth: taegnheisheth ioghadhnam emrhoeilhtlaelhoethmetheres tughmaeghechanes: '5. and 8.: Accusative and translative' The translative case may be combined with the suffix for the accusative if the object is damaged or harmed etc. and the result of the action is specified in an unambiguous way: moirgautheth lhethrear nheabrhoaghemarmeth ribhanes: the teacher tears the letter to shreds. Both the letter and the resulting shreds are considered as damaged, the result of tearing letters can only be some shreds, so: nheabrhoagh, pl. nheabrhoaghem, is suffixed:-armeth. If the teacher's interests are affected in a negative sense by tearing his own letter to pieces, this has to be translated as: moirgauthar lhethrearartgeres nheabrhoaghemarmeth ribhanes: 'teacher' = accusativus pro nominativo; 'letter'=accusative + resultative + 'his own'; 'shreds'=accusative + translative: three instances of the accusative case for the subject, the object and the indirect object! '4.and 8.: Nominative and translative' Only with the verb lhoich-, to become, the translative case has a different form: -colhin for persons and -colh for states, objects and entities. The subject of the sentence has the nominative ending. ioghadhnur moirgauthcolhin lhoichansines: John is becoming a teacher. The meaning of such a sentence is far more neutral than the already given example: ioghadhnur moirgauthartg eolaitheansingheothes: '9. Essive cases' The cases of the second class are verb-independent and make a statement about a quality of the noun to which their ending is attached. The modal essive has a neutral significance and offers no opinion about the reality of the quality it mentions. The suffixes are -pheidh for states, objects and entities, and -pheidhin for persons: teinhchiairpheidh: as an exception; moirgauthpheidhin: as a teacher, can be said about a person who is really a teacher just as well about someone who pretends to be one. The essive case is used when the speaker has a reason to be convinced that the quality is really present. It has also a pair of suffixes: -thuirin for persons and -thuir for objects etc. The last form is often seen together with the gerund which transforms a verbal radix into a noun. So: moirgauthuirin (the duplication of -th- is not allowed!): in the undisputed quality of a teacher, but: moirgauthanesuinthuirin: in his or her quality of being in the position of a teacher. The equative case, with the suffix pair -neathoidh / neathoidhin, is reserved for the denial of a quality or for the expression of a dubious quality: moirgauthneathoidhin may be said about someone who as if he or she were teacher, which this person is probably not. The formal essive (-mentigh) and the adverbial case (-mi) both transform nouns into adverbs.He speaks fluently French: gaidhlementigh tlaesaeuthmi ruadhes: '10. Vocative case' The vocative is used for addressing a person or an entity with or without a preceding interjection. Its case ending -elaidh is the only instance where a pronominal affix precedes the suffix instead of following it. Only the affixes for the first person singular, plural exclusive and dual (exclusive) can be used to form: idhelaidh - my … arhoughelaidh - … of the two of us arhemelaidh - our … In Borchennymi, it is not customary to call anyone by his of her first or family name. The vocative ending, therefore, is never added to the name of a person. Only functions and kinship terms normally take the vocative ending when a person is directly spoken to. Not even a husband will ever call his wife Mary or Janet, nor vice versa.(They will prefer pet names instead ...) Little children never hear their names in the vocative. Already at their baptism the minister does not pronounce a formula such as: 'Maurice, I baptise you ...', but will say: 'The child Maurice is baptised...' When introducing an unknown person, his or her function is always mentioned: Mrs X, attorney; Mr Y, father of seven children. Mrs X will be addressed to as: eoeblhuimhaidhelaidh, ‘my solicitor’, until the conversation will become informal (which point in Borchennymi is reached soon enough); from then she is: rhiadhaidhelaidh “my friend”. Mr Y, who might have retired or is unemployed, is: dalacharhemelaidh ‘our father’, till he becomes rhiadhaidhelaidh as well. Even the king is simply: regearhemelaidh, ‘our king’; not Your Majesty or whatever. This applies also to terms of kinship. One’s brother, for instance, is never called by his Christian name, but: cearnachidhelaidh - my brother, when there are two children in the family, cearnacharhoughelaidh (dual) when there are three, and cearnacharhemelaidh (plural) when the offspring is more numerous. (When addressing to totally unknown people, e.g. in the street, one never says: ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam’, but something like ‘please’ or ‘excuse me’. mhairtg (Mr) and mhairtganh (Mrs, Miss) are only used for addresses on envelopes or postcards, where they follow the full names (cf.: James Johnson Esq. instead of Mr James Johnson), or when a person is spoken about: ioghadhn moudhriough mhairtgeth, Mr John Mouriough, who has been a king from 1940 to 1948. His predecessor, however, who was an austere and formal man, was sometimes called gloireartg daeachesesth, a somewhat awkward translation of 'His Majesty', but this was broadly understood as quite sarcastic.) 11. Genitive cases Seven case suffixes can be distinguished in the genitive class. For the application of the two possessive suffixes the semantic character of the possession or property has to be considered. -chuigh, the inalienable possessive, indicates that the possession or the property is inherent to the possessor, whereas -chuilh is used for a non-inherent possession or property: moirgauthchuigh mainheth - the teacher's hands, but: moirgauthchuilh chuadaichemeth - the teacher's books. eidhbhleanchuilh reashotlureth means: 'a painting in the queen's collection', but when the queen is represented by a painting the suffix for the subjective genitive -lhail has to be used: eidhblheanlhail reashotlureth. The queen herself could be an artist, so that a painting made by the queen becomes: eidhbhleanleorh reashotlureth by using the suffix for the genitivus auctoris -leorh, indicating the source of something, An attitude towards a person or an entity may be expressed by adding the suffix-rhuimh for the''' objective genitive''' to an abstract ''noun. If the object belongs to the concrete class of nouns, one of the dative cases has to be used. 'Love of one's country' is: aimeth soamhuidhrhuimh, as it is in Latin: amor patriae, but 'charity, love of one's neighbour' is: aimeth tlairaethtauch, because soamhuidhr- is an abstract concept, and tlaireath- refers to one's neighbour as to a really existing individual who benefits from the charity, which is expressed by the benefactive case. The '''oblique' case is indicated by the all-round suffix -poath with the rather vague significance of reference to something or someone; moirgauthempoath lhubhremeth would mean 'the content of books with regard to teachers'. The abstract word for 'a book' - lhubhre- (from the Latin: liber) is in this instance preferred to the concrete chuadaich- (also from the Latin: codex). A real book about teachers and their activities would be: chuadaicheth moirgauthemlhail with the suffix of the subjective genitive, the schoolmasters being the subject of the tangible book in the library. The partitive case (suffix: -nhe) is used for quantities or parts of something: steidhm moirgauthemnhe: 'two of the teachers' or: apedhnhe: some water. A peculiarity of the partitive case ending is to be noted: it may precede some other case suffix when the noun to which it is added is the subject or the object in a sentence. steidhm moirgauthemnheth entghoithphumeathmight uichicaiechatheshough: 'two of the teachers stayed in the school'; apedhnhear saeghuithechainidh: 'I drank some water' partitive and accusative if all the water is consumed, or: apedhnheam saeghuithechainidh, partitive and absolutive if some water is left. '12. Dative cases' The core class of the dative comprises not less than eleven distinct suffixes for the indirect object of a sentence. The objective dative, formed by addition of -mhogh, is similar to the dative case in Indo-European languages: ioghadhneth moirgauthmogh chuadaicham aorhmirchanes: ‘John gives the book to the teacher’. As the Borchennymendi language lacks verbs for ‘to have’ and ‘to be’, the possessive dative is of great importance for the expression of properties and qualities of persons and entities. Not only the possessive genitive is the instrument for the description of possessive relations between a person and / or an object, but also the possessive dative has this function. It has two different suffixes, one for use with a verb, -madh, and one for instances in which no verb is used: -uir. chuadaicheth moirgauthmadh rhuithinanes: The book belongs to the teacher'. but: The book in the possession of the teacher', i.e.: 'the teacher’s book', is either: chuidaicheth moirgauthuir: chuidacheth moirgauthchuilh: or: chuidaichanes moirgauthmadh: In the last example the noun ‘book’ is treated as a verb: radix - common present - pronominal suffix 3sg. concr.The result of this verbalisation of a noun is the obligation to use -madh for the possessive dative. Although expressions for ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ do exist, they are normally not used for interjections. Instead, the possessive dative is prefixed to a pronominal suffix to constitute a separate word, sheidhlinham chudhnalh madheigh ‘six shillings for you’ means: ‘sixty pence, thank you’ is said by a shopkeeper giving change. When he mentions the price of an article, he will rather say: ‘six shillings for me’, sheidhlinham chudhnalh madhidh, ‘sixty pence, please’. This phenomenon is called the dativus ethicus, although there is no special case suffix for it. In daily speech it appears repeatedly, especially in these short pronominal constructions, for which reason this type of dative formation is often referred to as the dative of the pronoun or the dative of politeness. The dativus finalis, or the dative of purpose, with the suffix -theg, is used to denote the purpose or the destination of a certain action. The guard on the train approaching a station could make a somewhat complicated but very polite announcement like: giphpairtemam madheighem adghreoindheaghtegh ghaeiphoeithanidh mhispesatgredhuinmogheshem: ‘passengers for Aronde, please’, litt.: ‘I call for you the passengers for Aronde for their imminent alighting’, thus using three dative forms. The dativus commodi is closely related to the benefactive '''case. Both are used to denote the destination of something that will be or is likely to become a future possession or property. The difference between these cases is that the dativus commodi has to be used if something abstract is meant: moirgauthtlaerh, as a favour to the teacher, whereas the benefactive case indicates that the favour is something tangible: moirgauthtauch, as a present for the teacher. The '''malefactive case is, of course, the opposite of the benefactive. No distinction regarding the character of the wrong-doings towards the indirect object is made: moirgauthsuibh may both indicate that the teacher is badly spoken of and that he is injured physically by some malevolent action: moirgauthsuibh baintreachtheanainem: ‘They gossip about the teacher’, and also: moirgauthsuibh braidhthechaines: ‘He stroke the teacher a blow’. The momentary actor with a verb in the passive voice is denoted by the suffix -mhui for the dativus auctoris: lhethrear moirgauthmhui ribhroghtechaines: ‘The letter was torn by the teacher’. The real subject of this sentence is ‘the teacher’, for he is the one who tears the letter. The normal word order SOV, subject-object-verb, has to be followed, so that moirgauthmhui is at the head of the sentence. The object is ‘the letter’, that will cease to exist as such after the action has been performed. In Borchennymendi, the constructio ad sensum prevails over the formal subject-object relation, which implies that lhethrear is marked by the ending of the accusative case. The passive voice is normally avoided, so that ‘the letter was torn by the teacher’ will rather be: moirgautheth lhethrear ribhechaines: The dativus auctoris, therefore, is seldom used, except if the action of the verb is done by no one else than the actor, so that lhethrear moirgauthmhui ribhroghtechaines: means: ‘The letter is torn by the teacher and by nobody else’, i.e.: ‘… by the teacher himself’. In a sentence like this, the indirect object, the teacher himself, is of greater importance than the object. Therefore moirgauthmhui lhethrear ribhroghtechaines: is considered te be a more adequate construction. The delimitative dative denotes the restriction of the use of something to one entity or to a group of equal entities. The notice on the door of a staffroom shows this form of the dative: moirgauthpaolh: ‘only for teachers’. The meaning of this case does not necessarily require a plural, so that moirgauthempaolh would be overabundant and even misleading, because this implies that only three or more teachers are allowed to enter at the same time. The oblique genitive is sometimes substituted for the respective dative: mimnalhmhairemeth moirgauthphais: ‘instructions for teachers’. As the genitive suffix is practically limited to literary and scientific texts, the respective dative is gradually gaining ground, just as it is in several flectional languages (German for instance: Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod.) The prolative dative -eachas puts something or someone in the place of an other person or entity: moirgautheachas: instead of a teacher. The ornative dative -rha denotes endowment with an object or a property and cannot be used for persons, for whose company or assistance the comitative ablative is the proper suffix. If the object is actually used as an instrument, the instrumental ablative is more appropriate than the ornative dative, so compare: aonghasrha gheiaeredhes: ‘he will be doing some carpenter’s work, for which he is equipped with a hammer, but he has not used his gear yet’ with: aonghasmuig gheiaransines: ‘he is now building a contraption with a hammer’. Vocabulary Example text Counting from one to twenty. 1 reainsoidhn ('reainsoidhn' is the dual of reain, which means: a half. The suffix for the regular dual is -''soidhn.) 2 steidhm 3 chuidhnaelh 4 staedhm ''(This is the irregular dual of steidhm. There are about twenty irregular dual forms. Some of them are ordinals, others refer to objects that appear in pairs, e.g. eyes, ears, hands, legs, shoes etc. These dual forms are more or less similar to English plurals like mouse-mice, woman-women etc., but their use is restricted to the dual.) 5 tledhl 6 chudhnalh (The dual of 'chuidhnaelh, three.)'' 7 ertg 8 staedhmsoidhn ''(This is the regularly formed dual of ''staedhm'', which is the irregular dual of'' steidhm. Nouns with an irregular dual can take the suffix ''-soidhn f''or a second dual formation: sechoedhr: a (woman's) shoe, ''seachadhr: ''a pair of shoes, seachadhrsoidhn,'' two pairs of shoes).'' 9 tlaedhlreainsoidhnchuidh (= ten minus one. -chuidh is the suffix for the diminutive case.) 10 tlaedhl (Another dual.) 11 tlaedhlreainsoidhnagh (= ten plus one. -agh at the end is the copula 'and', similar to the Latin -que.) 12 adhouidhsuin ("Twelve" is a peculiarity. '''adhouidhsuin'' is obviously borrowed from 'a dozen', because the hypothetic tlaedhlsteidhmagh ''is experienced as hard to pronounce and ''chudhnalhsoin, very much alike in orthography and pronunciation, is a serious term of abuse. A legion of soccer supporters incidentally may be heard chanting 'Twelve, twelve' after an inappropriate decision made by the referee.)'' 13 tlaedhlchuidhnaelhagh 14 aertg (The dual of 'ertg'.'' You may notice that there are only five basic ordinals below 10, sc. 1/2 and the prime numbers 2, 3, 5 and 7. The words for 20, 100 and 1000 come from the Latin:'' leintg - viginti, gadhnt - centum, meighl - mille.) 15 tlaedhltledhlagh 16 tlaedhlchudhnalhagh 17 tlaedhlertgagh 18 tlaedhlstaedhmsoidhnagh 19 leintgreainsoidhnchuidh '' (Analogue to the formation of "nine".)'' 20 leintg ("Forty" is ''lantg, the dual o''f leintg; "Eighty" becomes lantgsoidhn: two pairs of 'twenties'.) Genesis 11: 1-9 oamhenheth dacearbherhetg laoiseachtaileachidhm ruadhanechaithsiadherelhem: gamhain raipetaileacham uisneachghedhraidhechaitheshem: mheæthechaithuineshemthradh pibrhaolhrhatgbhrath: mhuitguieam dasinearerhetg moriathmoighechaineshem: aduaidh esgoithechaitheshemagh: dhernaichesherechaitheshem: diothu dhearbhailiartg loitimearhmoighanainidhem: iuldhidhm duranrædhroæsthem: dhearbhailiam senthugbeadhithuir admhailmoighrædhredhidhem: ethrenachtha guimhoioatgthuir: lhoitg dhernaichesherechaitheshem:uirbheartg datuidhremogh phaidhghearmoighredhainidhem: shephoidhneth phaibobhairam cheloigheirh rudraighedhraidhredhtæmhaodhes: corhbemoighredhrædhurh genhshoiam: oidhrbethriœmh esheargmerogthredhtaimidhemagh: eignaitgechainatg eachaneth: uirbheam eochanmoighredhurh tuidhreamagh: daphaidhghearmoighechainsineshem oamhenheth: dhernaichmoighechainroæs: lhoitg uinearhoiander pobhuilansingeothelhem: laoiseachtaileachidhm ruadhanelhemagh: rothanelhemuin roghnaithe roachanesth: mothaigh nuinhsharhauiareshem tuibemerogthredhseareshemtroigh:eignaitghedhraidhanainidhem phaicruiearædhanaiphidhem laoiseachartgelhem chæiltephermedhraidhtæmhaodhmelhem: eachaneth esheargechaines areshem seœncheœsharge:noigearbhurar dauirbhethriairdh roaghtumheitgrogthghedhraidhechaithtæmhaodhesth: uirbheam babhilonartg enhmhoimhaurghedhraidhechathroainem: eachaneth laoiseachar oamenhluachmair phaicruieaperaidhechathcites: areshem seœncheœsharge esheargperaidhechathcitesagh: Category:Languages